Products You May Like
MultiVersus seems to be popping off in a major way ever since it went live in open beta this week. According to SteamDB, an external tool that tracks the concurrent and peak player counts of games that use the platform, the game has shot well over 100,000 concurrent PC players in the last 24 hours. This makes it, by far, the most popular fighting game release for the platform.
Checking now, the game is showing no sign of slowing, with it nearing a whopping 150,000 peak! It’s safe to say that the combination of the game’s free-to-play model, as well as a colourful cast of popular Warner Bros characters, has charmed the gaming community at this moment in time.
It’s also worth noting that the developers – Player First Games – have some significant content updates planned in order to maintain this momentum. Many will know that NBA star Lebron James was added to the cast upon the open beta release, but Rick & Morty are also set to join the roster during the upcoming season one period. Time will tell if these characters paired with the experience of actually playing the game will keep numbers high in the coming weeks.
This initial burst of success lends plenty of credence to the free-to-play model for fighting games as a whole. For years, fans of the genre have been butting heads over whether or not a live service model would benefit games such as Smash Bros, Street Fighter, and Tekken. Some games — like Killer Instinct and other platform fighters such as Brawlhalla and Rivals of Aether — have found great success moving in this direction. With MultiVersus seemingly pulling off similar or greater levels of initial success, you can only wonder what kind of ripples this will send through the industry.
However, the gears may already be in motion in this area. While there hasn’t been any word on whether Street Fighter 6 will follow this business mode, Riot Game’s Project L seems like a perfect candidate for a traditional fighter with true live service DNA. After all, Riot Games has been a major presence in the space for years with gigantic titles such as League of Legends, Valorant, and recently, Wild Rift.
What do you think of MultiVersus’ initial success? Do you think the momentum will hold? Or are we simply seeing week one hype? Let us know in the comments below!
For more MultiVersus content, check out our MultiVersus tier list here, as well as our feature editor’s opinion piece on why MultiVersus may be the best free-to-play game on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC.